Brakettes open 68th season Friday night

Staff reports

Published 8:05 pm, Thursday, June 5, 2014

The Stratford Brakettes begin their 68th season of women's major fastpitch softball Friday night against the Stratford Seahawks at 7 at Frank DeLuca Hall of Fame Field.

The Lyons, Pa., Spirit will be in town Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 10 a.m. for a pair of doubleheaders.

Five key players on last year's 68-0 national championship team have departed. Pitcher/slugger Steph Call, second baseman Ashley Waters, and centerfielder Becca Carden are college coaches and must spend the summer recruiting. Pitcher Sam Greiner (25-0) of South Florida is doing an internship for school, while the recently graduated Kate Bowen, an outfielder from Newtown, has hung up her spikes.

"We lost some outstanding players and even better people," said Stratton, who has over 1,100 career victories and four straight national titles. "But we've got a lot of folks coming back and some equally talented new players eager to become part of the tradition."

With two perfect seasons since 2011, the Brakettes have compiled a 256-4 record the past four years. They enter the 2014 campaign 81 straight victories and a consecutive home winning streak of 203 games, dating back to June 4, 2010.

The Brakettes have 25 regular-season dates at DeLuca Field, their home since 1988, capped by the sixth Women's Major Softball National Championship tournament Aug. 7-10. Highlighting the schedule are two tough road trips, July 19 to Fireside Stadium in Akron, Ohio, to face former Brakettes standout Rachele Fico (94-1), of Oxford, and the National Pro Fastpitch Racers, and Aug. 3-4 in Toronto, Canada, against the Canadian National Team.

Pitching again figures to be one of the team's strengths. Veteran righty Brandice Balschmiter, the former UMass All-America and NPF pitcher, returns full time after playing in only four games last year. Brandice was 36-2 with a 0.76 ERA in 2012 and owns a 120-9 career record, which ranks No. 8 all-time. Emily Weiman, the North Carolina State junior all-region pitcher, will join the team in early July. Weiman went 10-0 last year and was the Outstanding Pitcher in both the USSSA World Series in Rockford, Ill., and the WMS tournament. She allowed only two runs in 60 innings and struck out 75.

Stratton will have two talented newcomers on the staff in Allyson Fournier of South Windsor, and Monroe's Tatum Buckley, who was named Thursday as the Connecticut Gatorade Player of the Year for the second straight season. Buckley will also play infield when not on the mound. Fournier played two games with the team last year and struck out 23 in 10 innings. She recently led Tufts to its second straight NCAA Division III World Series title, posting a 28-1 record with a 0.49 ERA and 314 strikeouts in 202 innings. Buckley finished the year with a 20-4 record for Masuk after posting a 27-0 record as a junior.

Veteran outfielder Denise Denis is back to continue her pursuit for the team's all-time home run lead. She enters the season in second place with 77, 14 behind all-time leader Pat Dufficy. Denis hit 11 home runs with 57 RBI last year as she hit .399. Second-year Brakettes standout Elise Fortier of Fordham led the club with 23 home runs last year. She was second in RBI with 87 and batting average at .513.

NOTES: The Coastal Cordsmen will be on hand opening night to sing the National Anthem. . . Season ticket prices have remained the same for the fifth straight year. Anyone who purchases a season pass will receive special discounts on the National Tournament tickets. Box seats are $100, reserved with back rests (behind home plate) are $80 and first and third base bleachers are $60. All subsequent tickets purchased are at half price. ... Once again the Brakettes will be admitting all youth league teams, players and coaches, for free. Parents and other family will be charged. Teams interested in attending should contact the team's special events coordinator, Kathy Gage, at kgage@optonline.net. ... Gates open at 6 p.m. Friday.